An investment "seminar on wheels"
The "POP Report" launches real estate tour
An online newspaper based in Puerto Plata has started offering a rolling real estate seminar for people interested in purchasing real estate or investing in the region.
The day-long "seminar on wheels" is for people who want to study the idea of living or investing in the Caribbean, but aren't quite ready to deal with the pressure of a real estate salesman, says Tim Hall, a Canadian expatriate who has been living in Puerto Plata since 1983 and has been publishing The Puerto Plata Report (popreport.com) since 1998.
The real estate tour, which costs US$100 per couple for the day, has no sales agenda. "We're selling information, and I guess we're selliing the region because we believe in it. But we're not selling real estate, there's no pressure to buy," he says.
Hall has been involved in the tourism industry and in local development since moving from Montreal in 1983. He owns the popular Cafe Cito bar and grill, from where he publishes his online newspaper and plays host to visitors and expatriates in Puerto Plata. He is a founding member of the city's strategic planning office and of the local El Faro newspaper.
The idea of the tour was inspired by the interest his restaurant patrons show in finding out what it's like to move to the Caribbean.
"The questions are endless," he says. People want to know about the local laws, real estate prices and what the possibilities are. "There is no way we can answer them all in an hour or two."
"So we drive our people around, show them the options, talk about the good and the bad and leave them with a good overview and base of knowledge, market values, living the life, and so on."
Recent years seen an unprecedented surge in sales of condos, villas and development property in the beachfront villages of Cabarete, Sosua and Cofresi that line the coast.